


bouquet

by Murf1307



Series: 2018 V-Day Fic Blast #2: Everything Else [1]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: First Kiss, Flowers, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 19:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13688154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: In the story where they teach at the Institute in the 70s, Alex and Darwin are brought together by a bouquet of red carnations.





	bouquet

Valentine’s Day at the Xavier Institute is kind of a trip.

Most of these kids have just hit puberty, or they’re about to hit it, and that means a fair few of them have nothing but romance on the brain when February rolls around.  And when you have a bunch of pubescent mutants in a boarding school, you’re going to get some  _ interesting _ incidents.

Armando’s dealing with one such incident — Jubilation Lee accidentally blew out a wall in the library trying to impress another girl with an overly-complicated fireworks display, and someone has to make sure none of the younger kids decide to make a break for the late-lasting pile of compacted snow outside.  They really need to figure out a better way for these kids to express themselves, he thinks, because Hank will probably not want to spend the rest of his life trying to build the mutant equivalent of childproof walls.

There  _ is _ one thing that the Professor’s instituted in the last couple of years, though, that’s helping at least a little: the annual charity carnation sale.

Kids buy flowers, and either give them to each other, or they have them sent anonymously to someone they like.  It’s kind of cute, and the proceeds go to the mutant homeless shelter down in Manhattan, so everybody’s pretty for it, in the end.

Hank sneezes constantly for like a week afterward, but that’s been the only complaint so far.

Armando’s not even really thinking about the flowers, watching the hole in the wall the way he is.  He’s a little surprised, therefore, when one of the younger kids comes up to him with a small bouquet of carnations.  “Mr. Darwin?”

“Yes?”  He smiles at the kid — a little boy with a ruffle of fur around his neck and fingernails that extrude into claws when he’s angry — and asks, “Who are those for?”

“You!”  The little boy grins, showing a missing tooth.  “Mr. Summers said to bring them to you, and to tell you to go meet him in the bunker when you have the chance.”

Alex.  Alex sent him flowers?  That’s — unexpected, for sure.

But he keeps smiling.  “Thank you, Andrew.  I’ll be sure to do that as soon as Dr. McCoy can get up here to deal with the wall.”  

He accepts the flowers when Andrew hands them over and scurries away with a grin over his shoulder.  Once the kid is out of sight, he examines the carnations a little more closely. 

They’re all dark red, light red, and pink.  Not colors he would associate with Alex, but he’s fairly sure what they’re  _ supposed _ to mean.  Especially considering it’s Valentine’s Day.  The idea of it puts a warmth in his chest that  _ is _ all Alex, but he’s not sure if he’s jumping the gun or not.

After all, it’s been years since they found each other again.  If something was going to happen, wouldn’t it have happened already?

He spots the flaw in that line of reasoning immediately, of course:  _ he _ hasn’t done anything to make something happen, either.  And there are reasons, both good and bad, that he hasn’t.

It’s entirely  _ possible _ Alex was in the same boat.

Well.  Only one way to find out.

 

* * *

 

Alex, meanwhile, is  _ losing his goddamn mind. _

Logically, he knows that Armando’s stuck up there, making sure they don’t lose any kids to the lure of the snow.  Armando’s gonna be done soon, and he’ll come back down here.

Armando always comes back.

He’s even starting to really believe that, and that’s part of the reason he’s taken this chance, with the flowers and everything.

Another part is the fact that time keeps right on going.  He’s older, this year, than his parents ever got to be.  He doesn’t know how long he’s going to get to be alive — there’ve been plenty of close calls over the years.  Every moment that goes by is another moment Armando doesn’t know, and eventually, if he doesn’t act, it’ll be too late.

It was too late once before, and he’s not going to let it happen again.

So, he waits.  He worries.  What if Armando doesn’t want him?  What if they have to go through that weird distancing thing while Alex gets over him?  What if Armando  _ does _ want him, but they don’t work out?

There’s a lot of things that can go wrong, and frankly, Alex doesn’t know what to do while he waits  _ but _ worry.

Eventually, though, Armando arrives, holding that goddamn bouquet of flowers and a smile that, for some reason, Alex cannot read for the life of him.

“Uh, hi,” Alex says, flushing a little.

“Hey, hotshot,” Armando says, his smile going just a little teasing.  He gestures with the bouquet.  “A little bird told me you wanted me to have these.”

Alex laughs, a tiny bit.  “Andy’s not a bird  _ at all _ .”

“Figure of speech.”  Armando moves into Alex’s space.  It’s almost their normal, but this time, things  _ crackle _ a little bit.

“Yeah, I know,” Alex says, his breath hitching just a little.

“You wanna talk about this?” Armando asks, like it’s a legitimate question.  Like Alex can say no if he wants to, and everything will go right back to how it was.

Alex appreciates the lie.

“Yeah,” he says.  “Yeah.  I do.  Um.  I — you know, uh, when you came back, I was really fucked up for a while, right?”

Armando nods.  “Yeah.  Because you thought I was dead, and you blamed yourself for it.”

Alex nods.  “Yeah.  That wasn’t all of it, though.”  He takes a deep breath.  “Back then, um, before everything went to shit in Virginia, I...I kind of had a huge crush on you.”

It doesn’t seem to really faze Armando.  “Yeah?  That’s sweet.”

Alex flushes a little redder.  He’s not sure, really, how to take that.  “Yeah.  So, when you died, it...it really fucked me up for a pretty long time.  I was dealing with a lot of shit.”

“You made it through, though,” Armando reminds him.  “And now we’re both here.”

“Yeah, we are.”  He takes another deep breath.  “But, anyway, when you came back a couple years ago, so did that crush.  And I thought at first it was just kind of nostalgia, you know?  But…”

“It didn’t go away, did it?” Armando says, and his smile is only a little bit teasing.  “I know how that feels.”

Alex swallows.  “You do?”

“Yeah.”  He leans a little closer, and kisses Alex’s cheek.  “I’d say I do.”

The phrasing makes Alex laugh a little and blush  _ still _ redder, his cheeks burning.  “So, uh, you’re down with the flowers?”

“Mhm.  You mind if I call you sweetheart?”  Armando’s still in his space, but the crackling tension of it feels  _ good _ now.  

“You can call me whatever you want,” Alex breathes, actively flustered.

Armando smiles.  “Alright, sweetheart.”

When he leans even closer, brushing his lips across Alex’s, Alex can’t help but think it’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever called him.


End file.
